Rerailing frog



May 20, 1941.

A. L. sAwDY RERAILI-NG FROG Filed April 15, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Iran/en, or 07 May 20, 1941. 1 DY '-2,242,8 96

RERAILING FROG Filed April 15, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Patented May 20, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE 1 Claim.

My invention relates to devices for guiding the wheels of a derailed locomotive or car upwardly onto the track rails; and has for its object the provision of double ended rerailing frogs having removable center anchoring head portions which are self adjustable to Varying distances between the road-bed and the tops of the rails and which, therefore, compensate for difierences in the heights of rails. That is to say, my improved rerailing frogs are adapted for use with the various sized rails at present employed on the railroads of this country.

The invention also has for its object the provision of rerailing frogs having anchoring heads or center portions whereby the frogs are anchored to the rail and which will remain in place when the Wings or body portions of the frogs are depressed by a derailed locomotive or car without, however, subjecting the anchoring portions to the entire weight of the'locomotive or car; the anchoring heads also being formed to provide wheel guiding surfaces differing in certain respects to adapt them for use on outside rails and on inside rails.

The objects and advantages of my invention will be readily comprehended from the following detailed description of the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a railroad track with my improved rerailing frogs applied to the inside and outside rails.

Figure 2 is a plan View of the inside frog member.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the same,

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure 2 as viewed by the arrows.

Figure 5 is a similar view illustrating a modification of the anchoring member for use with a smaller rail.

Figure 6 is a plan view of the outside frog member.

Figure 7 is a side elevation of the same.

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken on the line S-8 of Figure 6.

Figure 9 is a similar view illustrating a modification of the outside frog applied to a smaller rail.

R-erailing frogs are usually made in pairs and difiering slightly from each other in certain respects, because of the Wheel-flange locations relative to the rails, to enable use on opposite sides of the rails; one being known as the inside member While the other is known as the outside member. In Figure 1, where a portion of a track is shown, the rail I5 is provided with the inside member or frog and the rail I6 has the outside member 01' frog applied; it being understood, of course, that the disposition of the members is determined by the position of the wheels of the derailed locomotive or car relative to the rails, That is to say, the members may be applied to either rail, the member shown on rail I5 being always employed on the inside or between the rails, While the member on rail I6 is always employed on the outside of a rail and therefore will hereinafter be referred to as the inside member and as the outside member.

The inside member applied to rail I5, and as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4, comprises the cast metal body i'lusually of somewhat skeleton formation to reduce its weightprovided with a base portion l8 having inclined top surfaces I9, I9 sloping upwardly from opposite ends toward the center and with a straight side 20 which is intended to be disposed in juxtaposition to the inner side of the rail l5, while the top surfaces at the opposite side are each provided with an upstanding flange 2!. The top surfaces l9 and their flanges 2| are cut away at the crown of the member at 22, to provide a recess as shown in Figures 2: and 3, preferably of greater depth at the side disposed adjacent the rail. With the main body ll of skeleton or hollow formation, a pocket or socket between the side walls 20 and 23 is provided, see Figure 4. The recess formed at the top of the main body member, intermediate of the upwardly sloping Wheel receiving surfaces 59, I9, is intended to receive the removable center element or rail anchor portion 24.

The center block or element 24, at one end, is provided with a wheel tread engaging portion 25 adapted to rest on top of the rail and terminating in a downwardly extending end 2r: adapted to lap the opposite side of the rail and thereby anchor the rerailer to the rail. The top of the element or block 24 and at a point removed from its other end is provided with a wheel-flange receiving depression or groove 21 of width approximating the width of the upper ends of the sloping surface l9, (9 of the main member; while the end 28 of the block on the side adjacent the groove 21 is provided with oppositely slanting Wheel-flange guiding surfaces 29, 29 (which intersect at the cross-sectional median line of the blocks) to be substantially in alignment with the inner faces of the respective flanges 2| of the body member so as to continue guiding the wheels-Which may be riding up from either end of the frog-toward the rail.

The center block or anchor element is so formed on its lower surface that it will rest on the side walls and 23 of the main body member as shown in Figure 4; and the lower side of the center block 24, intermediate of the portions which rest on the side walls 29 and 23, is shown provided with a depending leg or flange 39, which extends into the socket formed intermediate of the sides 20 and 23 of the main member 17. The leg 30 in the particular exemplification preferably is provided with a vertical slot as shown at 3! for a purpose hereinafter mentioned. In order to prevent misplacement of the center block or anchor element 2 3 when the re railer is not in use, the portion of the depending leg 30 adjacent the body wall 23 is shown provided with a vertical slot 32 which registers with a slot 33 in the body wall 23; the registering slots being adapted to loosely receive a bolt 3% (see Figure 3). Providing the depending leg 39 with the vertical slot 3! enables the head or nut of the bolt to be arranged in slot 3! instead of on the inner vertical face of the leg 30 where it would interfere with the body side wall 253. It will be understood, of course, that the bolt 35 is merely employed to keep the parts in assembled relation and may be omitted; the bolt being intended to have a loose fit in the slots 32 and 33 to permit relative vertical movement between the body ii and the center or anchor block 26 when the rerailer is in use so that, in the event the main body I! is depressed into the road-bed by the derailed locomotive or car, the center block 2 1 may still maintain its proper anchoring position on top of the rail without, however, placing all weight or strains on the wheel-flange guiding portion of the center block adjacent the apex on top of the main body of the rerailer; the long depending leg 30 of the center block will prevent displacement of the latter when it encounters the wheel.

My improved rerailer with the loosely mounted center block not only compensates for vertical 'movement of the body of the rerailer relative to the tread or'top of the rail, but also adapts the rerailer to diiierent sized rails, a condition en--' countered on manyrailroad systems with certain sections using heavy rails of about one hundred and thirty-one, pounds which are approximately seven and one eighth inches high, while other sections of the same system have lighter or seventylive pound rails which are approximately five'and three-sixteenths inches high.

To illustrate the adaptability of my improved rerailer to rails of different heights, I show it applied toa smaller rail in Figure 5 where a center block of slightly different construction is employed. Y r

In order to adapt the rerailer to the different heights I provide the interchangeable center blocks. In the center block 2 3, Figure l, the rail engaging end extends above the wheel-flange groove or channel 2? to permit the. main portion of the block 2:3 to rest on the walls of the main body l! which is of standard size to enable its use with all rails. The center block for the small rail shown in Figure 5 merely difiers in that, the wheel-engaging and anchoring portion 35 extends in the same horizontal plane from the wheel guiding portion 28 provided on its side with the oppositely slanting surfaces 29 which engage the flange side of the wheels and force the latter toward the rail. I

The depending leg 35 similar to thecenter block in Figure 4, isralso shown provided with the slots 3| and 32 to'permit use of the 'bolt is, but .it will be understood that the slots and bolt may be omitted as the latter are merely intended to prevent misplacement of the blocks when the rerailer is not in use.

In Figures 6 to 9, I show the outside member of the rerailer which also involves a double ended main body 36 of more or less skeleton form and with a straight side which is intended to be disposed adjacent the outer side of the rail as illustrated at right in Figure 1; both ends having top surfaces l9 sloping upwardly toward the transverse median line of the member, and, because of the position of the wheel-flange relative to the rail, are made slightly narrower than the top of the inside member shown in Figure 2.

The member 36, at the side removed from the rail, hasthe wheel guiding flanges 3'! extending tangentially to the longitudinal axis of the rail and terminating adjacent the top or apex of the member. The top or crown portion of the memher is cut away to provide a recess 33, similar to that of the inside member l7, while the outer side wall coincident with the recess is bowed outwardly as shown at 39 and thus also provide a socket between the outer wall 38 and the inner wall ill.

The recess at the crown of the main body member is intended to receive the removable center block ll which seats on the wall 48 and has the wheel receiving top portion 42 which extends across the rail and terminates in a downwardly bent end 63 and thereby anchors the center block to the rail and maintains the outside member in proper relation with the rail. 7

The center block at its other end is provided with the upstanding wheel side engaging portion i=3 which is formed on its inner face with oppositely sloping surfaces disposed tangentially to the longitudinal axis of the rail, as shown at 5, $5 in Figure 6.

The center block M is shown provided with spaced apart depending legs 46, t? which straddle the wall M] of the base member 35; leg 41 :being disposed between inner wall ti] and outer wall 39, see Figure 8. The outer wall (it is shown with a vertical slot while the leg i! is shown with a screw-bolt d3 which extends through slot 33 and serves the same purpose as ,the bolt 34 of the inside? member, namely to merely maintain the elements in associated relation but without looking the center block against self-adjustment.

The center block 4! is the type employed with the heavy or high rails and therefore has a thicker body portion 49 than the center block M shown in Figure 9 intended for use with a smaller rail; the center block M in all other respectsibeing similar.

The'ends of the base elements I? and 35 are preferably provided with ground penetrating or tie engaging barbs or tapered lugs 53 for preventing longitudinal movement of the frogs.

As shown and described, the guide surfaces on the center block or anchor member of the inside frog are somewhat farther removed from the rail than the guide surfaces on the block or anchor memberof the outside frog in order 7 to permit the wheel-flange to strike inside of the rail, whereas the guide surfaces of the outside member are closer to the rail so as to induce the wheel-flangeito ride across the top of the rail and drop down on the inside of the rail.

With my improved rerailer, if the wheels of the derailed locomotive or car are a consider-v able distance from the rail, the center block or anchor element may be separated from the frog wings or base portion and the latter placed in front of the wheels, causing the latter to ride up on the wings and then slip off when the wheels reach the topthe Wheels thus being brought closer to the rail at which time the entire frog is used and anchored to the rail by the center block.

Furthermore, with my improved frog, in the event the base member becomes depressed into the ties or the road-bed, the weight of the derailed locomotive or car will not be placed entirely on the rail anchoring portion as, however, is the case with the structures at present employed and which often become distorted or so badly bent that they fail to function, thus entailing considerable expense and loss of time.

What I claim is:

A rerailing frog composed of an elongated skeleton casting having a base, spaced apart side walls and a top inclining upwardly from both ends of the casting and terminating at a distance removed from opposite sides of the transverse median line of the casting to provide a socket extending to the base of the casting, the side walls coincident with the socket being recessed to a point beneath the plane of the inclining top surfaces adjacent the socket, and a guide and anchor block, the body portion whereof is adapted to extend downwardly toward the bottom of said socket while the top of the block extends beyond the sides of the body portion and seats on the recessed side walls, said top having upwardly disposed Wheel flange guiding surfaces adjacent one end while the other end extends beyond the side of the casting and terminates in a downwardly extending flange adapted to overlap the head of a track rail and to engage the opposie side thereof, said block being loosely mounted in said socket to compensate for vertical movement of the casting and block and to adapt the rerailer to variations in track-rail size.

ALEX L. SAWDY. 

